So, I went through this series backwards, starting with Demon's Crest.
And while this game is great; I do think the games iterate on eachother really well.
I'm still pretty blown away how many ideas started in this one though. Everything is so solid and feels really good to play. Going in, I thought it'd feel like the series didn't hit its stride until the NES game. But nope, this game's in full stride, baby!
It's honestly kinda amazing how similar the NES game is to this one. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed this was like the GB version of that NES game. Something akin to the Mega Man GB games.
The biggest difference is the pacing. This game is much more linear. But to pad out the length they have random encounters on the overworld... which sucked. The vials you get from them are not that useful and they end up feeling more work than their work, really fast. Especially considering the annoying fanfare everytime you defeat, sometimes, a single enemy in these encounters. Even so, it's a pretty comfortable length and difficultly, which I appreciated. Never got stuck on how to proceed like the NES game, and never got frustratingly sick of it like other games of this era. It's just so impressively well done considering it came out 35 years ago. It's probably one of the best Gameboy games out there.
And while this game is great; I do think the games iterate on eachother really well.
I'm still pretty blown away how many ideas started in this one though. Everything is so solid and feels really good to play. Going in, I thought it'd feel like the series didn't hit its stride until the NES game. But nope, this game's in full stride, baby!
It's honestly kinda amazing how similar the NES game is to this one. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed this was like the GB version of that NES game. Something akin to the Mega Man GB games.
The biggest difference is the pacing. This game is much more linear. But to pad out the length they have random encounters on the overworld... which sucked. The vials you get from them are not that useful and they end up feeling more work than their work, really fast. Especially considering the annoying fanfare everytime you defeat, sometimes, a single enemy in these encounters. Even so, it's a pretty comfortable length and difficultly, which I appreciated. Never got stuck on how to proceed like the NES game, and never got frustratingly sick of it like other games of this era. It's just so impressively well done considering it came out 35 years ago. It's probably one of the best Gameboy games out there.